Ordinary plain old blog PLUS frequent reflections on "1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die" by Tom Moon (of NPR and other fames)

Leaving Milwaukee for Clear Lake. Enjoyed company of J, B, M and M. Stayed at a fine local motel, which announced with some pride on its road sign that if offers

HBO POOL TOUCH TONE PHONES

Nice enough, but something of a relic from, say, 1968. (Not unlike some of us.)

Went to local Schlitz Audubon Nature Center with hosts and walked down to Lake Michigan through mix of Pines and Maples and some other stuff. Blooming: May apples, wild geraniums, violets, including white violets, yellow violets, speckly white violets, and jacks in the pulpit.

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Afterward, we retreated to hosts' for nap time. Took a while -- had to lie down next to Joe in a toddler bed (me on floor) to bar him from getting up to raid the bookshelf.

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Also at preserve, Joe's first throwing of rocks into Lake Michigan. (First throwing rocks anywhere, I suppose.) His favorite part of day, large fish kill notwithstanding.

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Today stopped in Sparta, Wisc., to run around in park on little lake. Redstarts, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. Joe ran back and forth on playground suspension bridge.

Scott McCloudProbably the best-known thinker about comic strips/books/graphic novels/sequential art working right now. Controversial among comic fans but unequivocally an influential and original thinker.